What's New - February 2004
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The February update is dedicated to the Noteboom Variation. During the last year I was concentrating on other openings, but how I could ever forget my favourite?! Frankly speaking, there were no great discoveries here but some of the ideas are fairly interesting. I am happy to see the Noteboom is popular (and still alive!) - let us look forward to the forthcoming battles! Ruslan Scherbakov |
I have decided to divide the Slav eBook into two, although they are still quite big...
Download PGN of February '04 1 d4 d5 games
Noteboom Variation [D31]
Ovsejevitsch,S - Krapivin,V: The line 5. Bg5!? is not very popular but still rather interesting:
            
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The ambitious 5...f6 and 5...Qc7 are certainly risky for Black while the more solid 5....Be7 gives White a small advantage in a quiet position and reasonable chances to increase it in case of Black's inaccurate play - this is exactly what happened in this game.
Malakhatko,V - Kim,A: This time Black preferred to counter 5. Bg5 with the more ambitious 5...Qc7. However, this approach is fairly risky and in this game White has quickly obtained a superior position but then he went astray and failed to get even half a point.
Gupta,A - Sandipan,C: The tricky 8. Rb1 has been met by the rather unexpected 8...bxa4!? White soon collected Black's weak pawns but only to restore material balance. Then Black introduced a new and rather promising plan, achieved good counterplay, and exploited White's unfortunate play.
Sukharev,S - Arzumanian,G: Black introduced an interesting novelty in a very deep and old line, which was known to be almost lost for him:
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Yet it looks that White can still prove he has better chances but very precise and cool play is required as his king is walking under fire. However, the more important question is why Black entered this unacceptable line since it is well-known he has a much better choice on move 19, after which it is White who is supposed to face problems...
Platonov,E - Geller,J: Both players were following the modern development of the line 11. d5, which is recently not very popular as Black knows how to achieve good play. In this game White introduced a novelty on the 23rd move, which was recommended in some comments, but it hasn't changed the assessment of the position as favourable for Black.
Ivanov,S - Eriksson,J: The line with 15. Nd2!? is not very popular but it seems to be a good alternative to the main 15. Re1:
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White takes control over the e4-square while the well-known option Bd3-c2 helps him to stop the advance of the connected passed black Q-side pawns. It means that Black's counter chances are rather limited but in the Noteboom they are always there though in this game he treated the position unsuccessfully.
Dziadiuk,P - Fedosenko,P: As a rule, the advance e3-e4 should be met by ...e6-e5, after which White usually refrains from capturing the Black e5-pawn, especially with the knight, which was supposed to be clearly in Black's favour. However, it does not seem to be such a simple truth after this game, in which White introduced a very interesting idea and proved that in some cases the knight's capture on e5 is quite playable...
Motoc,A - Dragomirescu,A: White came up with an interesting idea in the 15...Be4 line. She quickly advanced her pawn to c6:
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and, despite Black having a lot of pieces around, the pawn was quite safe and White conclusively outplayed her opponent. Actually, Black could achieve good counter chances with better play but the whole White idea certainly deserves more analysis and practical tests.
Nguyen Anh Dung - Sandipan,C: The line with 15...Ne4 still seems to be the most popular reaction to 15. Re1:
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White has a huge choice, but the immediate exchange of the knight on e4 looks harmless for Black. In this game Black successfully proved it with creative play although later he completely lost control over the position and somehow managed to lose the winning endgame with an extra knight versus pawns.
Svetushkin,D - Krasenkow,M: In the line 15. Re1 Ne4 White preferred neither to exchange the knight on e4 nor to disturb it with Qd1-c2 so Black was able to treat the position without the weakening move ...f7-f5. Soon Black could be even happier as he managed to penetrate with one of his knights deep into White's camp but the ensuing blunder rendered all his efforts futile.
See you next month!
Ruslan
If you have any questions, then please post a message at the 1 d4 d5 Forum, or subscribers can email me at ruslan@chesspublishing.com.